The debate about equal prize money for males and females spans all facets of the sporting world, it is the eternal struggle for equal financial recognition for female athletes. It is an interesting and convoluted debate as in most sporting disciplines the women are seen as the fairer sex and granted a shorter period of competition, their field of competition tends not to be as deep as the men’s and the media coverage sparse. Not that any of that is ‘our fault’, but as a result we are given a fraction of the prize money handed to the men for exactly the same title recognition. Physiologically we are not male and that is, fundamentally, why we are female, we may be more intelligent but we will never be as strong or as fast so I think it fair that in some sports this chromosomal difference is taken into consideration. To then discriminate against women when it comes to money because of this gender difference is so 113 years ago, women have been competing along side men in sport since 1900!
The women’s podium at the 2013 XCM Worlds
In December 2012 the UCI was graceful in increasing the financial reward to women who win world titles in almost every cycling discipline. They did not support enforcing the minimum salaries for elite women cyclists but as of 2013 women would be handed the same amount of money for their world title. It is a step forward and the UCI should be credited for their vision but I am still not sure why it has taken till 2013 for this kind of equality. I wonder why all 6 of Pat McQuaids brothers (and he) raced their bikes but Wikipedia says nothing of his 3 sisters pursuits?
Women’s Dolomiti Superbike Podium 2013
It is an interesting world we live in, sex sells, and in a paper by a Canadian politician, writer and social activist (female) comparing mens and womens prize money it is not surprising that the sports with equal prize money (Canadian Dollars) were the Beach Volleyball and the Ironman events. The other sporting disciplines in the study failed miserably: golf, billiards, tennis, cycling. Would we get better prize money if we wore less and therefore attracted more media coverage?
The truth of the matter is that elite women train equally as hard as the elite men, they make the same personal sacrifices and more often than not they are more positive ambassadors of the sport than their male counterparts. I haven’t seen any elite women athletes in the news recently for doping or glassing or drunk and disorderly behaviour!
There is now a term for female athletes who resort to marketing themselves or their sport for their ‘voyeuristic potential’: sexploitation and it is frowned upon by the Australian Sports Commission. Sexploitation is a product of our society and an attempt for women to receive the recognition they deserve for the time and money they invest on themselves and their chosen sport. If elite sporting women were to be treated equal to their male counterparts in salary, prize money and media support I doubt we would see so much ‘sexploitation’. It is no more than a desperate bid for recognition and as I mentioned before ,sex sells!
So pick a sport and write it down… type it into google and click on the images… interesting to see in which sports the women feature and what they are wearing…. so whose fault is sexploitation?
Women’s winners Esther Suss and Sally Bigham finish in Lourensford. Photo: Karin Schermbrucker/Cape Epic/SPORTZPICS
Recently the organisers of the ABSA Cape Epic announced that the prize money for the open women would be equal to the open men. This is revolutionary as the ACE already has the largest total prize purse in the world for mountain biking and to increase that further to accommodate the women is incredible. The ABSA Cape Epic is in its 11th year and attracts some 1200 riders (600 teams) annually. The course is tough and there is no reduced anything for women, they ride the same distance as the men for the same number of days in exactly the same conditions so it stands to reason that they be equally rewarded at the end. It is no surprise that the elite female mountain biking community is ecstatic with the news and I suspect 2014 will demonstrate to the rest of the world exactly what the fairer sex is capable of given an equal playing field.
If you want to build your elite womens’ field you have to give them a reason to come and play…